Ex-LIRR Boss Asks Judge to Show Leniency for Regina Walsh in Disability Fraud

[Turbo19]

A former president of the Long Island Rail Road who headed the agency while phony disability claims spiraled has asked a judge to show leniency to an ex-worker convicted of disability fraud.

James Dermody, who served as the LIRR acting president and president from 2003 until 2006, made the plea to Manhattan U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero, who is scheduled to sentence former LIRR director of employee services Regina Walsh Friday.

Dermody said he spent 48 years at the LIRR, and worked with Walsh for "over 20 years" on human resources matters, praising her assistance to other workers and willingness to volunteer during service disruptions.

"I know that Regina made a mistake, for which she is deeply sorry and regrets," wrote Dermody, who did not remark on any LIRR blame for the disability scandal. "I believe that one mistake, as serious as it is, should be taken in the context of all the good Regina has done."

Walsh, 65, of New Hyde Park, is one of 33 ex-workers, doctors and consultants charged and convicted of participating in a decadelong conspiracy by hundreds of LIRR retirees to submit phony disability claims to the federal Railroad Retirement Board.

 

After pleading guilty in January, she testified as a government witness at two trials of her former accused co-conspirators, and she will be the first cooperating witness to be sentenced.

 

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